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Louis Farrakhan (born Louis Eugene
Walcott; May 11, 1933) is the National Representative of
the Nation of Islam. He is an
advocate for black interests, and a
critic of American society. Farrakhan has frequently referred to
Judaism as 'a gutter religion'. Farrakhan has been widely
criticized and praised for his political views and often
controversial rhetorical style. In 1996, he was awarded the
Al-Gaddafi
International Prize for Human Rights founded by the current
Libyan leader Muammar
al-Gaddafi.

As a child, he received training as a violinist. At the age of six,
he was given his first violin and by the age of thirteen, he had
played with the Boston College Orchestra and the Boston Civic
Symphony . A year later, he went on to win national competitions,
and was one of the first black performers to appear on Ted MackOriginal Amateur Hour, where he also
won an award. A central focus of his youth was the Episcopal St.
Cyprian's Church in Boston's Roxbury section.In Boston, Walcott
attended the prestigious Boston Latin School and English High School,
graduating from the latter. He attended college for two
years at Winston-Salem
Teachers College, where he went to run track, but left to be
with his wife (born Betsy Ross) in Boston who was pregnant with
their child. Due to complications from the pregnancy, Walcott
dropped out of college to devote time to his wife.

Nation of Islam

Early involvement

In 1945,
while headlining a show in Chicago entitled
"Calypso Follies," he first came in contact with the teachings of
the Nation of Islam. A friend
from Boston, sometime saxophonist Rodney Smith, introduced him to
the NOI's doctrine and he attended the annual Saviours' Day address by Elijah Muhammad. He joined the Nation of
Islam in July 1955, becoming Louis X. The "X" was a placeholder
following the dropping of the slave name,
referring to the loss of the unknown surname of his slave
forefathers, and preceding the Islamic name some Nation members are
given later in their conversion.

Thirty days after that, Elijah Muhammad stated that all musicians
in the NOI had thirty days from the date of this announcement to
give up the music world completely. Farrakhan did so after
performing one last time at the Nevel Country Club.

After joining the Nation of Islam, Farrakhan quickly rose through
the ranks to become Minister of the Nation of Islam's Boston
Mosque. He was appointed Minister of the influential
Harlem Mosque and
served in that capacity from 1965 to 1975.

Leadership

In 1977, after wrestling with the changes and consequent
dismantling of the NOI structure by Warith Deen Muhammad, Farrakhan walked
away from the movement. In a 1990 interview with Emerge
magazine, he expressed his disillusionment with the changes and
said he decided to "quietly walk away" from the organization rather
than cause a schism among the membership. In 1978 with no public
notice, Farrakhan and a small number of supporters privately
decided to rebuild the original Nation of Islam upon the foundation
established by Wallace Fard
Muhammad and Elijah Muhammad.

In 1979, the Nation of Islam's newspaper, Muhammad Speaks
was reestablished by Farrakhan under the name The Final Call. In 1981, Farrakhan and
supporters held the first annual Nation of Islam Saviors' Day
convention in Chicago since 1975. At the convention's keynote
address, Farrakhan made his first public announcement of the
restoration of the Nation of Islam under Elijah Muhammad's
teachings.

On January 12, 1995, Malcolm X's daughter,
Qubilah Shabazz, was arrested for
conspiracy to assassinate
Farrakhan. It was later alleged that the FBI had used a
paid informant, Michael Fitzpatrick, to frame Shabazz. After
Shabazz's arrest, Farrakhan held a press conference in Chicago in
which he accused the FBI of attempting to exacerbate division and
conflict between the Nation of Islam and Malcolm X's family. Nearly
four months later, on May 1, U.S. government prosecutors dropped
their case against Shabazz.

On May 6,
1995, a packed public meeting in Harlem, New York, termed A New Beginning, featured Louis
Farrakhan and Malcolm X's widow, Betty
Shabazz. Originally organized by community activists as
a fund raiser for Qubilah Shabazz's legal defense, the meeting
marked the first public rapprochement between Farrakhan, the Nation
of Islam and the Shabazz family.

In a February 2006 AP-AOL "Black Voices" poll, Farrakhan was voted
the fifth most important black leader with 4 percent of the
vote.

Hurricane Katrina

In
comments regarding the destruction of large parts of New Orleans after Hurricane
Katrina, Louis Farrakhan stated that there was a hole under one
of the key levees that failed, and implied that the levee's
destruction was a deliberate attempt to wipe out the population of
largely black sections within the city.Farrakhan later said
that New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin told him
of the crater during a meeting in Dallas, Texas. Farrakhan further claimed the fact that the
levee broke the day after Hurricane
Katrina is proof that the destruction of the levee was not a
natural occurrence. Farrakhan has raised additional questions and
has called for federal investigations into the source of the levee
break.

These
accusations, however, are countered by many experts, including the
Independent Levee Investigation Team from the University
of California, Berkeley. The findings of this panel are that the
overtopping of the levees by flood waters, the often sub-standard
materials used to shore up the levees, and the age of the levees
contributed to these "scour holes" found at many of the sites of
levee breaks after the hurricane.

Praise for Barack Obama

Farrakhan said the Iraq War, the nation's
faltering economy and the increased number of natural disasters
were signs of "a nation in peril." He said those problems provide
the broader context for then-Senator Barack
Obama's popularity.

In response to Farrakhan's remarks, the Obama campaign promptly released a response
distancing himself from the minister. "Senator Obama has been clear
in his objections to Minister Farrakhan's past pronouncements and
has not solicited the minister's support," said Obama spokesman
Bill Burton. Obama himself "rejected and denounced" Farrakhan's
support in an NBC debate.

Farrakhan subsequently denied his comments constituted an
endorsement, saying he would not tell any one of his followers how
to cast their vote, but that they should vote "their own
self-interest."

Right-wing Web sites such as World Net Daily reported that during his
February 24, 2008 "Saviours' Day" speech, Farrakhan called Obama
"the Messiah". However, Farrakhan quoted in
context during his speech, said, "Sen. Obama is not the Messiah for
sure, but anytime, he gives you a sign of uniting races, ethnic
groups, ideologies, religions and makes people feel a sense of
oneness, that’s not necessarily Satan’s work,
that is I believe the work of God."

Following the 2008 presidential
election, Farrakhan explained during a BET
television interview, that he was "careful" to never endorse Obama
during his campaign. "I talked about him — but, in very beautiful
and glowing terms, stopping short of endorsing him. And
unfortunately, or fortunately, however we look at it, the media
said I 'endorsed' him, so he renounced my so-called endorsement and
support. But that didn’t stop me from supporting him."

Financial Support

Health problems

Farrakhan announced that he is seriously ill in a September 11,
2006 letter to his staff, Nation of Islam members and supporters.
The letter, published in The Final
Call newspaper, said that doctors in Cuba discovered an ulcer. According to the letter, subsequent
infections caused Farrakhan to lose 35 pounds. He urged the
Nation of Islam leadership to carry
on while he recovers.

Farrakhan was released from his five-week hospital stay on January
28, 2007 after major abdominal surgery. The operation was performed
to correct damage caused by side
effects of a radioactive "seed"
implantation procedure that he received years earlier to
successfully treat prostate
cancer.

Following
his hospital stay, Farrakhan released a personal public "Message of
Appreciation" to supporters and well wishers and weeks later
delivered the keynote address at the Nation of Islam's annual
convention in Detroit.

Controversy

Farrakhan has been the center of much controversy, and critics
claim that some of his views and comments have been racist or homophobic.
Farrakhan has categorically denied these charges, and has stated
that much of America's perception of him has been shaped by media
sound bites. This defense is echoed by religion scholar Mattias Gardell who argues that, when
considered in the context of Farrakhan's typically lengthy
lectures, many of Farrakhan's controversial comments take on a more
nuanced or thoughtful meaning that cannot be conveyed in a sound bite.

H1N1 Vaccine Conspiracy Theory

On 10/21/2009, Farrakhan told an audience in Memphis he believes
the H1N1 flu vaccine was developed to depopulate. During a
gathering to observe the Nation of Islam's Holy Day of Atonement,
which also marked the 14th anniversary of the Million Man March in
Washington, the (Memphis) Commercial Appeal reported Farrakhan as
saying:

"The Earth can't take 6.5 billion people. We just can't feed that
many. So what are you going to do? Kill as many as you can. We have
to develop a science that kills them and makes it look as though
they died from some disease."

Allegations of Antisemitism

Jewish distributors

Farrakhan has alleged that in 1985, Jewish distributors blocked a
major urban economic renewal initiative he championed which was
dubbed "p.o.w.e.r." for People Organized Working for Economic
Rebirth.

The initiative called for a joint enterprise of black businesses
and organizations to produce and distribute a line of cosmetics and
toiletries sold under the Clean &
Fresh label. Major black haircare companies, including Johnson Products Co. backed out of the
initiative fearing it could lead to accusations of anti-Semitism.
Johnson Products owner George
E.Johnson, Sr.
maintained that his company's distributors told him that any
dealings with Farrakhan's P.O.W.E.R. project would lead to having
his own products boycotted. "We knew we could not offend our
distribution channels," a Johnson spokesman, Dorothy McConner,
said. "When I saw that," Farrakhan says, "I recognized that the
black man will never be free until we address the relationship
between blacks and Jews."

"Gutter religion"

In 1984,
after returning from a visit to Libya, Farrakhan
delivered a sermon that was recorded by a Chicago Sun Times reporter. A
transcript from part of the sermon was published in the
New York Times:

Farrakhan has repeatedly denied referring to Judaism as a "gutter
religion," explaining that he was instead referring to the Israeli Government's use of Judaism as a
political tool. In a June 18, 1997 letter to a former Wall Street Journal editor, Jude
Wanniski, he stated:

Neturei Karta

Farrakhan has had friendly relations with leaders of the Neturei Karta, a fringe Jewish group that is
well-known for its association with and support for anti-Zionists. While they said that "Minister
Farrakhan has in the past, at times, tended to negatively lump all
Jews together in his rhetoric," Neturei Karta stressed that
"Minister Louis Farrakhan is an extraordinary force for good in the
Black community. His followers are responsible, industrious, modest
and moral. And for this he and they have our respect."

"Black Hitler" characterization

During
Jesse Jackson's 1984 presidential
campaign, Jackson referred to New York City as "Hymietown" in a discussion with a black
reporter. Though Jackson thought he was speaking off the
record, the reporter printed the quote. Jackson was widely
criticized for the slur and received numerous death threats,
leading Farrakhan to announce, "If you [Jewish leaders] harm this
brother, I warn you in the name of Allah, it'll be the last one you
ever harm."

Mugabe

In 2002
Louis Farrakhan went to Zimbabwe in support of President Robert Mugabe's intentions to enforce proposed
seizures of white-owned land and property. The seizures were
marked by violence and death and contributed to the collapse of
farming and agriculture. Farrakhan said he was in "full support" of
Mugabe's policies "as it was aimed at correcting a historical
injustice".

Malcolm X's death

After a 60 Minutes interview
which aired on May 14, 2000, CBS News said
that Farrakhan's "incendiary rhetoric played a role in the 1965
assassination of civil rights leader Malcolm
X."

On May 20, 2000, Farrakhan publicly rejected CBS News'
characterization of the interview stating, "It appears that the aim
of 60 Minutes, CBS and Mike Wallace was to make the
American public believe that I, Louis Farrakhan, ordered the
assassination of Malcolm X. It in no way reflected the spirit of
Miss Shabazz and myself and our
attempt to continue the path of reconciliation started by Dr. Betty
Shabazz and me in 1994 and 1995."

In a June 5, 2000, interview titled 'Setting the Record Straight'
with Jet Magazine, Farrakhan
said "the interview was edited in such a way to give viewers the
impression that Farrakhan had a role in Malcolm's death." Of the
full four-hour interview, CBS edited the
broadcast portion down to 12 minutes.

In a
February 21, 1990 (which was also the 25th anniversary of Malcolm
X's death) speech at Malcolm X College in Chicago,
Illinois, Farrakhan gave a presentation on "The Murder of
Malcolm X" and the lingering effects of the
assassination.

Farrakhan and classical music

When Farrakhan first joined the NOI, he was asked by Elijah Muhammad to put aside his musical
career. After 42 years, Farrakhan decided to take up the violin
once more, particularly due to the urging of prominent classical musician Sylvia Olden Lee.

On April 17, 1993, Farrakhan made his concert debut with
performances of the Violin Concerto in E Minor by Felix Mendelssohn. Farrakhan said that his
performance of a concerto by a Jewish composer was, in part, an
effort to heal a rift between him and the Jewish community.
The New York Times music
critic Bernard Holland reported that while his performance was
flawed due to years of neglect, "Mr. Farrakhan's sound is that of
the authentic player. It is wide, deep and full of the energy that
makes the violin gleam." Farrakhan has gone on to perform the
Violin Concerto of Ludwig van
Beethoven and has announced plans to perform those of Tchaikovsky and Brahms.